Chief Stipe

Role model? To whom? Surely we teach our youngsters to determine right and wrong and make their own opinions up rather than have the cancel or woke determine what is right or wrong.

Doing some research the majority of the starters in the Super Maiden are pricey yearlings. Leconfield was purchased for $1,000,000. A couple of exceptions - Rinsed Enuff purchased for $1,250.

Really? Seems like a 3yr old handicap race to me. You'll be backing number 5 Jolly Good Fellow. Blinkers for the first time even though it isn't after Christmas. Bought by Brett Thompson Racing for $160,000 at the Magic Millions.

A much stronger field than the 2000 Guineas of fillies lined up for the 1000 Guineas.

My I suggest Mr Downes that you lodge a complaint with the RIB and NZTR.

He did lead and dictate easily. Ran the last mile in 1:57.

Perhaps @Thomass should spend some time in Gore - might ground him.

Did you hear it live? Or just @Thomass banging on about it?

The only person trying to cancel everyone is you. Why do you give this shyte oxygen and longevity? The number of people that would have been offended probably numbers one - you.

That is close to what I think given the constraints facing the track manager. However it wouldn't be that hard if the track was renovated. However when you have 3 big meetings in 8 days you don't have many options if you are not going to irrigate within 2 days of a raceday. Looking at the forecast this week you probably wouldn't want to irrigate again.

Not at all because it wasn't the "Hayes Team" apparently it was Daddy Hayes phoning in from Hong Kong. The point is the horse probably didn't need them. It's form wasn't anywhere near average. Do you think they'll run him further than 1600m ever again? I doubt it.

I find red headed women are the most temperamental and of they are Irish it just adds another dimension to it.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine canceled the remainder of Saturday's program after the eighth race over concerns regarding the safety of the synthetic Tapeta surface. There were three catastrophic breakdowns on Saturday, beginning with a worker shortly after the 8 a.m. renovation break. Social Dancer was injured on the backstretch in the second race. Owen’s Tour Guide broke down on the far turn in the eighth, the Grade 3 Bessarabian, after which the final two races were scrapped.

Woodbine cancels late races after 2 fatal breakdowns www.horseracingnation.com Woodbine racetrack canceled the final two races on its stakes-laden Saturday card following two fatal breakdowns on the artificial Tapeta track, including a runner in the Grade 3, US $110,000 Bessarabian Stakes. Woodbine Entertainment, the operator of the Canadian racetrack in Etobicoke, Ontario, near Toronto, provided few details on the reason for the cancellation in a news release late Saturday afternoon. “Following consultation with the HBPA, Jockeys' Guild and (farm equipment manufacturer) AGCO, Woodbine Entertainment cancelled the remainder of Saturday's Thoroughbred race card (Races 9 & 10) in the best interest of equine safety,” it said. But Woodbine Entertainment said in separate posts on X.com that Social Dancer and Owen’s Tour Guide were injured during the second and eighth races, respectively, and were humanely euthanized as a result. It extended “sincere condolences” to the connections of both horses and noted that jockeys David Moran, the rider of Social Dancer, and Jose Campos aboard Owen’s Tour Guide were both OK after the incidents. It noted in the news release that the Grade 2 Autumn Stakes, one of the canceled races, would be rescheduled as drawn on Nov. 16. Owen’s Tour Guide, a 6-year-old graded-stakes-placed daughter of Tourist trained by W. V. Armata, had amassed a record of 38: 7-3-6 and earnings of nearly $275,000 US in her career for owner Tequesta Racing. The Equibase chart for the Bessarabian said she was racing four wide in the third flight of horses on the far turn when she “took a misstep at the quarter pole, fell, dislodging the rider, and left via equine ambulance.” Social Dancer, a 3-year-old filly trained by Michael Doyle for owner-breeder C. Scott Abbott Racing Stable, was making her third start in a maiden-optional claiming race earlier on the card, when she “took an awkward step nearing the half-mile pole, was eased, pulling up at the five-sixteenth maker and left via equine ambulance,” according to the Equibase chart. Tapeta, a Thoroughbred racing and training surface comprised of a carefully selected mixture of the finest silica sand, wax and fibers, is used at racetracks around the world and has long been considered safer than dirt of turf for racing, according to manufacturer Tapeta Footings Inc. One of its other big advantages is that it handles wet weather and heavy rainfall extremely well, according to the Tapeta Footings website.

@Gammalite and @Thomass in my opinion blindfolding a horse is a desperate option. Mr Brightside didn't need blinkers. His form showed that. Now the question is will he wear them next start? @Thomass what is your recommendation?

Or did Willo ride better?

Why do you think Tony Lee got pissed off being REQUIRED to do it?!!

@Thomass you're on the thin ice of moderation if you keep manipulating the facts with misinformation.

Yep they were really confident that the blinkers would "work" first time...yeah na! Mr Brightside would probably have won without them just as he did in the Makybe Diva Stakes over the same distance at the same track in September with essentially an identical field!

You forget to mention that Mr Brightside had won 7 Grp 1's without them. As for the journalist hyperbole you leave out the rest of the article... Will Hayes said the blinkers were actually father David’s idea, and though he and J.D. were nervy before the jump, it all worked out – just. “The old man in Hong Kong suggested it, but it’s a team effort and Mr. Brightside represents our team so well,” he said. “It was always a flight risk, and I can tell you, me and JD breathed a nice sigh of relief – we were standing next to each other when he left the gates so well. It was, ‘oh, thank goodness’. “I'd like to say it was an easy watch after that, but it certainly wasn’t.

The other interesting aspect of the race was Mr Brightside wasn't tasked with dragging the field up to a lunatic tearaway Pride of Jenni.

Perhaps but did it really make a difference? His last 200m might have been quick but they ran 1:36 for a Grp 1 on a Good 4 track. The maidens at Riccarton ran 0.8 of a second slower on a Soft 6!!!

Mr Brightside has done that many times before WITHOUT blinkers. His form has hardly been poor preceding yesterday.

There aren't that many horses to program for in the South Island. BTW I thought NZTR drove the programming? After all it seems the programming committee doesn't have much influence.

What does "work" mean? Up until yesterday Mr Brightside had earnt $15m, won 6 Grp1's and won 45% of the time. Fairly good data to support you don't need them. Plus his form is best at Flemington. In my opinion he would have won without them like he did in September in the Grp 1 Makybe Diva.